I only listened to COREA for the first time earlier this year (2014) because my pal Jesse from Altar Of Complaints posted about them. Thank science for that. COREA played massive punk/noise-screamo from Spain and continue to kick my ass from the grave.

In a nutshell...beautifully monstrous noise-screamo. Piercing screams. Epic songs. Noise interludes, generally as intros and outros to songs. COREA recorded a masterpiece back in 2004 when they put 'Los Peores 7 Km de Mi Vida' to cd. "La muerte fosiliza el recuerdo - El grito cristaliza la agon¡a" is soft and calming as it weaves and strokes through gentle atmospheric waters. This fantastic intro always get me bobbing and sounds like a hefty portion of Gantz, in my opinion. After the halfway point expect much harsher material that gravitates toward an electronic meltdown.

"Cuando el mar pierde las conchas" is the polar opposite as it shreds and tears through the first minute, leaving traces of melody and structure in the noise, chaos and hypnotic and breakdown blasts. After two more minutes of this the song shifts nicely into an atmospheric/acoustic outro to help the listener wind down, or destruction within society would ensue. "Interrupciones" starts strong in a similar fashion and doesn't let up for four minutes when they finally incorporate a swinging, disorienting guitar squeal. The heavier moments remind me of the scathing Japanese thrash/screamo band (now defunct) Tetola93.

The first two minutes of "Ofelia" are simply stunning, as the song slides effortlessly from one huge part to another, generally with what I would call "screamo breakdowns" (no chugging). With often jarring rhythms, especially at the 3-minute mark, this masterpiece eventually falls apart but is nabbed with a nice repeating riff after those first, five, fantastic minutes. Like many of the band's songs, this is pretty long and clocks in at over 10 minutes, with most ranging in the 5-10 bracket.

I personally didn't get nearly as into the band's second effort 'Quien Encuentra La Madre Conoce A Los Hijos' as much as the first, as it seems to drift a little more aimlessly, at times. That being said, be sure to at least check out "Las Trincheras del Ivan" which builds like Envy meets Angel Eyes with sprawling riffs, ambiance and some very conservative sprinkling of screaming, as it's one of COREA's best tracks. "Lo que está quieto es fácil de retener; lo que todavia es débil es fácil de romper" and "Voy a morir como nunca ha muerto nadie antes" are also decent tracks but don't get me nearly as excited as the songs from 2004. Who cares, though. It's all amazing!!!

CRYDOME, the first show? The last show? I don't know, but I do know that December 5th was an exceptional show at the newly appointed screamo headquarters in Toronto, as Skramden Yards closed down in November of 2014 and birthed this bad boy.

Fuck me, I'm sorry WOODLOUSE. As I told Justin (guitar, also plays in Congratulations and New Wings->now disbanded) I needed to delete the ZBR fest videos from my card and was cycling through, your video was the only one I'd shot from the show at that point but despite the 1/20 odds, I stopped on and pressed delete without thinking and happened to stop on their video. Fuck me, indeed. I can say, however, that I was thoroughly impressed with the claustrophobic noise that permeated the basement room of Crydome. The fuzzed-out, sludgy and dissonant guitar weaved in and out with the drums and bass while the animal shrieks and growls gave the band an even larger presence. Well done, boys.

Next up was a semi-local group named TERRY GREEN who seem to gathering an army of fans. Seriously, after every show I always hear people talking and buying the tapes. I can also attest through the Zegema Beach Records distro that I brought that they dig Scowler, GRYSCL and Congratulations, among others - which is a pretty solid base for influence! I also advise all fans to check out Van Johnson, an Ottawa band from the early 2000s that played a very similar style of groovy, screamy and almost danceable hardcore. Anyways, they played a very emotional set, which had Adrien (vocals) sprawled out on the floor by the end. Seriously these guys kill it every time.

As you will see from the first video (I've posted their full set here) the band is "fucking excited" to play this show. Ten seconds before I started shooting this video, the band looked into the audience, which was packed into the basement and said "Holy shit, there's a lot of people here." I was really excited to see them play as I'd briefly discussed getting involved with the band's recordings at some point after seeing a live video of them in Montreal over a year ago. I won't lie, LONELY ANIMALS blew me away. Fucking entrancing. The music isn't chaotic, although it is screamy. The individual instruments mesh together in a way that saturates the room with sound like bands such as Mono and Godspeed You Black Emperor are able to. They also graced us with a new song right off the bat! Check it along with with their full set here.

FOXMOULDER closed the night kicking ass, as per usual. They played a new song which was really heavy and really showcases some sweet Rohan moments which can be viewed here. They also played my new favourite "Tempest Ill" and I got a great shot of Darren and that killer bass riff. The band was mentally out of sorts with a few hiccups, but those hiccups became the subject of hilarious between-song banter. They will be recording for a 1-sided 12" next year, stars permitting.

KHAYEMBII COMMUNIQUÉ were a very important American screamy hardcore band from the late 1990s that I first heard about after picking up their 'The Vida Blue split' 10" in the early 2000s. This band was one of the first to mix screamy hardcore with some precise and melodic clean singing that isn't too far off from the juxtaposed stylings of Kodan Armada or Alexisonfire's first record. They also had a hefty helping of raw emotion and incorporated very poetic lyrics.

These guys played a lot like the earlier emo aka screamy hardcore bands with lots of pretty bits sprinkled into the midst of chaos and sing/scream vocals. Not to say they should be likened, but I've got to mention it. Sure, some guy blasted me for comparing Alexisonfire to KHAYEMBII COMMUNIQUÉ, but seriously listen to "AM1200", "The Des Moines Tapes" or "Better Times are Better Left Dead" and tell me they don't have similarities, especially the clean vocals mixed in with screaming. You'd be hard pressed to. I know a lot of bands employ this strategy, but this comparison is really close when referring to Alexisonfire's early material. The South is probably the best band to compare the screamier stuff to, but they managed to pull it off with much more cohesiveness and proficiency. They also have I Hate Myself's almost western sounding instrumental slower jams which really help the songs chill out after such grueling blasts of abrasive screaming.

Seriously if you've never jammed these influential lads from the US then you are doing yourself a disservice. You'd also be a little nutty if you didn't check out Mark Shaw's new band Vi Som Alskade Varandra Sa Mycket who will be doing a split with KHAYEMBII COMMUNIQUÉ in the near future which is supposed to include unreleased songs!

Although I like OCCAM'S RAZOR and all, there is one primary song that I always find myself coming back to, and that's "The Ghost" from the 'A Real Proposal for a Real World' 7". Combining elements from Joshua Fit For Battle, Kodan Armada, Caught In The Fall and Khayembii Communique, this track is fucking stellar. The band employed some jazzy and twinkly guitars (think Mustaphamond) before bursting forth into chaos (think Dispensing Of False Halos), like much of the screamy hardcore coming out of the late 1990s and early 2000s that juxtaposed the pretty with the harsh and dark, particularly on Witching Hour, early Init and Level Plane Records. Check it out, check out some other tracks too and if all sits well with ya download what I've got posted for the discography. I noticed some people scrounging for stuff on the internet and I tracked down physical copies of most of their stuff more than 5 years ago so I've got a fair amount in there, save the 2 very early releases, whatever years those may be! Very awesome and obscure screamy hardcore that borders on grind, particularly with that 'They Found My Corpse Lying Naked Face Down In The Snow split'.

I can't remember who, I think it was one of my Protest The Hero friends, got me into POISON THE WELL directly following the release of 'Tear From the Red'. I remember at first those vocals were just too heavy. Eventually I really came to like the deep, gutteral woes of the vocalist. Although I've got a fair amount of band comparisons in the "for fans of" section, POISON THE WELL truly is a beast unto themselves, as in the end they simply sound like POISON THE WELL, metalcore with some excellent clean sections. These guys ruled this scene for the better part of 4 years before dropping a very weak album and, in my opinion, lost their crown with 'Versions'. Albums such as 'The Opposite of December', 'Tear From the Red' and 'You Come Before You' are all metalcore classics.

The only track that really stands out for me on 'The Opposite of December' is the ridiculous "Nerdy" with its disjointed but perfectly timed intro of high, half palm-muted riffs and screaming that flows toward the sung chorus, which isn't nearly as readily available as the clean singing on the band's albums to follow. I should mention that among many fans this was their first taste of POISON THE WELL and it still sits at the number one spot among the metalcore fans who may not like clean singing so much, as there is little to no melodic stuff on here.

'Tear From the Red' is the album that got me into POISON THE WELL for a good 3-4 years, and I still listen to them in my folder of amazingness weekly. "Botchla" is probably the band's opus, due in part to the fantastic Darren Doane music video (which you can watch below) with breakdowns and vocals culled from the emotional depths of hell. I love when the cinematography plays in time with the music as it becomes very obvious that the director likes the band's music.

"Moments Over Exaggerate" is another powerful number with clean singing and craziness. "Horns and Tails" was the band's first foray into an acoustic-only song, and boy it really works. "Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense" has a really amazing outro, while the aforementioned "Pieces of You in Me" has that soft, melodic opening that was my bridge into POISON THE WELL territory. "Parks and what You Meant to Me" is a phenomenal closer and the song I chose for the OMSB mix. Just wait till you hit the two-minute mark when the band hits epic proportions as they move to a very melodic and accessible style with spot-on vocal crooning, "Intoxicate me with all your voices and crash parts into mind. So lost inside of you, to ever think we waited too long" right before pulverizing eardrums at the three-minute mark.

"Ghostchant" is the band's major label debut opener, and it is heavier and softer than anything from 'Tear From the Red' with a punishing verse and angelic chorus. "For a Bandaged Iris" is probably the strongest and most accessible song on the record. It plods with heavy feet until that insanely catchy chorus kicks in - there's no way you won't be singing it after listening. "The Realist" is one of the more aggressive tracks, but as it is with this release singer Jeff busts out more great melodic singing for the final third of the song. "Zombies are Good for Your Health" follows a similar formula but drops the clean vocals altogether and it has got some really nifty guitar leads as well as a plethora of breakdowns. The closer "Crystal Lake" is based off of the Friday The 13th movies and bares its teeth which sound like falling knives. This shit is definitely thrash/metalcore to the max.

Then I heard 'Versions' and it sounded boring as hell. So I passed. Maybe one day I'll give it another shot, but not today.

'The Tropic Rot' was a comeback album of sorts, as it veered away from the dare I say boring atmosphere of 'Versions'. "Pamplemousse" is a dark and dreary number that sounds like the full band version of what was going on with "Horns and Tails" from 'Tear From the Red', as it builds steadily with a slight southern drawl until well after the four-minute mark. An eerie and excellent song. "Makeshift Clay You" promotes some feedback during the thrashy/hardcore blitz at the beginning before settling into a groove-laden romp not unlike Every Time I Die, but harder. "Without You and One Other I am Nothing" starts like a depressing lounge song before busting into more traditional POISON THE WELL territory. It's a strange mix of old and new, but it works and rounds out the better songs on the band's final output.

So there's my partial historical account of the band and a bunch of subjective opinions. There's one thing we can probably all agree on, this band was pretty popular and still is pretty darn influential.

Monday, 22 December 2014

Genres: Pop-Punk / Skate Punk / Rock / Emo / IndieRelated artists: Yearly, Saves The Day, Peter Toh, Teachers and Classic Case.Country: Long Island, New York USAYears Active: 1999-2002Song: "King of Coronas"Album: "Masquerade in the Key of Crime"Year: 2000Label(s): Equal Vision Records / Elkion RecordsThis post's artist is from the December 2014 Mix. This is track #11.
You can download the December Mix#12 right hereor get the new January 2015 Mix#1 here.
For fans of: Saves The Day, The June Spirit, The Story So Far, The Starting Line, Sinclair, The Get Up Kids, New Found Glory, The Used, Moneen, The Movielife and Over It.

Back in about 2000 I was desperately searching for anything that sounded even remotely like Saves The Day. It was a difficult task at the time, but I was able to find a select few. Among them was THE STRYDER from Long Island, New York.

There are a few tracks on this cd that are straight-up early skate/pop-punk gems. "11/11" in particular is fantastic, with start/stop guitars and vocals that are extremely reminiscent of Chris Conley's earlier work in Saves The Day, and by golly that is one catchy-ass chorus. "Got You Last" should not be missed either, as it has some seriously infectious pop-punk vocals that are naked and bare, with no effects or manipulation - he just sings that way. The palm-muted guitars that follow the first chorus of "Bang, bang! I got you last." just before the one-minute mark pull me in every time. "Sucker" is a decent track that takes more of the rock approach with vocals that are on the brink of breaking but never quite do, and one might even compare that strain to the For The Mathematics' vocalist. Granted, the lyrics aren't always the greatest, but I was in high school so I didn't care at the time.

THE STRYDER also have two superb slower songs, the first of which being the band's strongest "King of Coronas". This five and a half minute song is the most varied and ballsy that the band wrote. It swings back and forth between slow parts, palm muted transitions and grand alternative/emo rock that borders indie rock more than skate or pop-punk. Seriously, this is a beautiful track that I can jam daily even after all these years. If the band was a Saves The Day clone, this song in particular showed the depth and originality that the band was capable of. The second track I was hinting at is the album's piano-harnessed closer, aka the title track "Masquerade in the Key of Crime". At 8:33 it's long by conventional standards for pop-punk, skate-punk or punk in general, I'd say. That doesn't stop it from lulling me in with some nice piano work (and no other instrumentation) as well as some decently written lyrics that rise and fall with the keys.

I vaguely remember checking out the next album and being unimpressed, but perhaps that's because I started my screamo phase in 2002. Aha, I just read that they parted ways with their initial vocalist and "debuted a new sound" - so yeah, I definitely didn't dig it.

And there you have it. "Masquerade in the Key of Crime" is really amazing for what it is, especially remembering how few bands could actually do this 15 years ago, let alone today. Man, some pop/skate-punk is just fucking great. Most...is not.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2000 - Masquerade in the Key of Crime cd/12"LP (download here)
2000 - The Hits Just Keep On Comin' 7"

2002 - Jungle City Twitch cdLP

2004 - Savor the Danger ??? (collection of demos and stuff)

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(2000) THE STRYDER - "King of Coronas" (from 'Masquerade in the Key of Crime')

(2000) THE STRYDER - "11/11" (from 'Masquerade in the Key of Crime')

(2000) THE STRYDER - "Got You Last" (from 'Masquerade in the Key of Crime')

Phil Norman, aka my dad, loves Envy. After showing some interest in Pelican and then the exceptionally under-appreciated Gifts From Enola, I let him borrow my TOMYDEEPESTEGO cd. To my surprise it became one of his favourites. That should give you a bit of an idea of how accessible this band can be. Sure, the songs generally hover around the 10-minute mark but they have a certain ambient draw to them - not in the slow, sometimes boring sense, but in the massive, engaging and interesting way.

All you need to do is take the 9-minute "Euskadia" from 2007's 'Odyssea', plop yourself down on a couch with the lights off or do something grand like walk up a mountain and jam this song. I would be flabbergasted it didn't make whatever you were doing a little more epic and by the end you'll probably even be more satisfied with whatever you did in general. The first half focuses on the heavier side of instru-metal which is much akin to Pelican, until the army-esque drumming rolls in at about 4:40 and carries the song to a slow, driving, dreamy and post-hardcore/post-metal heaven. "Renovatio" is a fantastically catchy number that is a total cross between Finger Of God, Pelican and Gifts From Enola. "Tora" is an 11-minute masterpiece with a twinkly intro that morphs into a real headbanger, and the second song "Mizar" I could say the same thing about.

The band has three albums, only one of which I've focused on because I only just found out they had the two latter releases. Okay, now it's two weeks later. Let's continue:

2009's 'Chronophage' busts outta the gate pronto with much heavier and darker material than their debut. "Dr. Disagius" is much heavier, denser and moodier than most instrumental music and harkens 'Australasia'-era Pelican with less time changes. "Cicadus" takes a grooving, deep riff and expands it into a full band moshfest. "Controversy (Act I, Inferno)" starts out like a prog-rock jam before dropping the pendulum just after the one-minute mark which somehow seeps into an epic, stringed arrangement that my mom could jam in the car. "J.H.I." has some chanting vocals of "hey", but that is the extent of the vocal element. "Milla" is a nice, thick atmoshpheric (hehehe) romp through instrumental bliss and "Libero Arbitrio (Act III, Paradiso)" is an amazing closer with a fucking huge opus to complete the album.

2012's 'Nero' isn't really all that different from the first two records. The songs are epic in nature but much shorter, with only "23:45" eclipsing the 6-minute mark as all the other songs are 4-5 minutes. "23:45" reminds me a lot of Tool meets Envy as it lays out some lush soundscapes right before violently dismantling them during the huge breakdowns. The title track "Nero" is my favourite thus far, as it gracefully bobs and weaves like spaceship through an asteroid field with some subdued moments but this track also churns out some of the band's heaviest riffs and seems to be over far too quick, clocking in at a mere 4:43.

So yeah, that should be enough to entice any instrumetal fan of bands like Pelican and Russian Circles. Bam, sucka.

Never heard THE GREAT REDNECK HOPE before? These guys will fucking destroy you. Fast, chaotic, screamy as all hell, weird, funny, crazy and talented are all pretty apt descriptions. The band's releases were all, for the most part, grindy/powerviolence/metallic-screamo with some obvious melodies sped up three to four times just to fuck with coupled with mind-reeling song titles and insanely short songs lengths.

Starting with THE GREAT REDNECK HOPE's demo 7" 'Why Humans Think Computers Cant'...this shit was hard to find. I scoured ebay for a good two to three years before finally grabbing it for $15 or something. It's raw and slower, with many a nod to Botch's early 'The John Birch Conspiracy Theory'-era work and the first Ed Gein release, aka mathy hardcore with scathing vocals. Of all the band's work this is my least favourite. My computer has, for some unexplained reason, deleted the first of the four tracks on my hard drive, so I've only posted tracks 2-4. If anyone else has this please upload it for all to enjoy!

This was followed by a very influential and important album, the ''Splosion' cd/10" picture disc that only has one song that really resonates with me. That song is "They Say the People Elect the Government They Deserve, but I Don't Remember Knife-Raping Any Retarded Nuns" and comes the closest to fine-tuning the band's sound. The album is decent, but after hearing 'Behold The Fuck Thunder' this is kind of like reading a kids book when you are older. I guess in comparison it sounds loose, awkward at times and generally less inventive.

'Behold The Fuck Thunder' is THE GREAT REDNECK HOPE's masterpiece. Look no further than the absolutely exceptional and essential "Cheeseburger Karma 2004 - A Jam Odyssey" which hits on every ridiculous aspect that the band has to offer. In less than one minute, you've got aggressive/heavy finger-tapping goodness, murder guitars, breakdowns, some Southern flare, mathy time changes and over-the-top puke/screaming. You've also the insane breakdown in "Girl, are You Pregnant...It's not My Fault, You Seduced Me" at the 30-second mark which is the fastest breakdown I've ever heard. "Let's Fall in Love over AIM so we can Fuck when we meet at Cornerstone" is the first great track with even more of that southern-tinged An Albatross-meets-metal from the 11-song album which could probably be listed as an EP or an LP, with the entire thing running less than 11 minutes! That's pretty short, but it's to be expected when you've got stuff like "My Other Car is a Centaur", which is a 17-second romp with ridiculous vocals/lyrics that read, "Her name was Lola, she was a dancer." followed by a guy speaking into a mic, "Thank you very much, You really are a sophisticated audience." Obviously these guys saw their lyrics, band name and recordings as a bit of a joke and were able to poke fun at themselves. I also heard from one of the nicest people that I know that they were jerks...so maybe they took it a bit too far. I don't know.

I've recently been shown a live video from the band in 2002 playing "You're Not A Man Until You've Been With One" which apparently from some lost, obscure and, according to the video, out of print demo 3"cd. You can watch the video here or at the bottom of the youtube embeds. If you know anyone who's got this bad boy, please post it in the comments section!

There's a decent history about the band linked here. Grab the discography including the 7" demo (minus the first track which was erased from my computer, somehow) here.

Past Week

Search the tons of OMSB interviews and reviews here!

OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain

Link to www.zegemabeachrecords.com/omsb-talentSubmit your band's material if you think it jives with this blog and I'll post it on the record label site for listeners to preview. Just send an email with "OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain" as the title and a link to your music and I will do the rest.

Contact!

If you are a band/record label and think your stuff would jive with this blog and want me to listen to it / post it, email me at zegemabeachrecords@gmail.com with "openmindsaturatedbrain" as the subject title . If any links you would like are dead, post on that page and I will upload the link again.